I’ll never forget the day in High School after some big to-do about Martin Luther King (it was February, Black History Month) when I was in line for my lunch being stared at by a blonde haired girl who looked like she wanted to cry. Without warning this girl started asking me what I wanted for lunch and loading my tray up with items that I could have gotten myself, making me feel weird and uncomfortable along with the confusion that flooded my mind. I didn’t know this girl but I thought about it later (after politely telling her to leave me alone and putting back the items) and I realized that I was her chosen charity case due to the white guilt that comes along with tales of slavery, Jim Crow laws and lynching. Now I am not a veteran nor have I served in the United States Military but I can imagine that… [Read more]

Right now there is a documentary being run on The History Channel called “Vietnam in HD”; while it is easy to blow it off as yet another film on the old war, I have to say that as a history buff and documentary watcher this one is different. There has only been one other documentary to affect emotion out of me the way I felt watching Vietnam in HD and that was “Reich”. The context of these 2 shows is in giving it to us raw with no chaser, no punches pulled and most importantly the cause and effect of both wars. Movies and Documentaries – Depicting Life In Reich I learned of what Germany was going through prior to Hitler and how he systematically came in as savior, then moved on to cleaner, then finally became complete authority. The pace in which he moved and made decisions was blindingly fast and before you knew… [Read more]

I’m Alpha. Tough shit if you don’t like it or agree with me, but I have Superwoman Syndrome. Although syndrome makes it sounds like an affliction (sometimes is, I guess) – I get mad amounts of work done in a day. In a normal day, I’ll probably have 2 meetings, be on my BlackBerry whilst walking, replying and checking more emails, returning and answering calls and staying up to date with friends and family. Trouble with me, is that I.Just.Cannot.Slow.Down. I’m usually wide awake in bed and my mind is always running in fast forward. I don’t know how to relax because I fear that I haven’t got something done in the day. And that of course this affects relationships. Men have accused me of being aggressive, too much to bear or handle, argumentative, hot headed and every name that’s derogatory about being ambitious under the sun. I’m used to it really. When i was… [Read more]

Men are not in trouble, the gender war is another faux problem created to mask us all from the reality of the overall human situation. If you find yourself reading articles by men and women claiming that men of today are hopeless, lost and unnecessary, please consider the source before you let their assertion upset you. Men have not been denied any privileges in the modern age, we haven’t been locked down, and we haven’t been made to relocate. What has happened is that the playing field that many women and men fought to have leveled is more than on its way to evening out. When change like this happens, much like segregation, change in laws, change in housing or hell any change whatsoever, the bigots come through in droves with their articles, one-liners and commentary of hate disguised as intelligent discourse. Lately the focus has shifted in the blogosphere from the woes of the… [Read more]

In the past I’ve talked about a person’s aura having a lot to do with intimidation. Well beyond walking, your presence has to be one of bravado, I like to call it the Panther presence. When I find myself walking into a building or plaza, I mentally assume ownership of everything there. It becomes my metropolis and it’s people become my people. This allows me to take it all in at a glance and it leads me to walk briskly as if I own the place. A good example of this stride can be seen through Bill “The Butcher” Cutting on Gangs of New York or Ari Gold from HBO’s Entourage. Both these men don’t stroll, they walk like business is meant to be handled! When you walk this way people want to get out of your way and on observation they tend to assume that you’re a big deal. Put a little smile on… [Read more]

One of the most annoying and inaccurate stigmas with the martial arts is that you have to be a child or pre-teen to enter and take away anything of value from it. As a practicing Karateka of 23 years I am here to warn you that formal training could and will save your life. The statement that is the title was stated by Nas, a rapping emcee who has made a living echoing the sentiment of the street. Of course if you are familiar with the street’s sentiment, it is “I practice Gun fu not kung-fu” which is arrogance in assuming that a. you will always be in a place where your gun is at the ready and b. you are born with the natural skills to fight. My question to you older folks that shy away from martial arts based on this is – why are you listening to street thugs? Why are you… [Read more]

There was a time when Kimbo had the web buzzing from his insane, bloody,  backyard fights and before long he was a household name known by any nerd with the ability to search for videos online. Then the man went on to try MMA and despite being a physical specimen, the old knee injuries and mobility handicap made him a joke to everyone who actually thinks MMA is real (ya I said it). Well the above video shows the arena that Kimbo should have tried in the first place being that his hands were what we knew to be his weapons. Sure MMA is the modern day WWE and has fans beyond measure but I am happy to see Kimbo tapping jaws in the “gentleman’s sport” of boxing. Hey big Kimbo if this doesn’t work out I urge you to holler at Micheal Jai White and get into Hollywood my man. If you saw the movie Blood and Bone you will… [Read more]

R-Kelly did a video where he hid out in a man’s closet with a loaded gun after sleeping with his wife and America ate it up as entertainment. Rihanna kills a man who violently rapes her on her music video and the country jumps to cut her throat with “how dare you”. I have one question, is it really all about the kids or is it that she’s a chick with a gun that bothers people so much? Is it apples to oranges when I wonder why the pedobear R-Kelly is applauded for music video violence while Rihanna is getting tarred and feathered? I’m asking you parents out there because it is the same ideology of “what about the kids!” that led to over 30 bitter comments on the Axe Ball Cleaner Commercial that I posted on here back in January of 2010. Do we lack the capacity to side with victims that fight back… [Read more]